Cement shingle.



H. R. WARDELL.

CEMENT SHINGLE.

APPHCATION FILED APR. 28, m7.

1,24%,148, Patented Oct. 23,1917.

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HENRY R. WARDE LL, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO H. W. JOHNS-MANVILLE COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

CEMENT SHINGLE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 23, ran.

Application filed April 28, 1917. Serial No. 165,294.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY R. WARDELL, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at New York city, borough of Man- 5 hattan, county and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cement Shingles, of which the fol lowing is a specification.

My invention relates to the production of 10 cement shingles, or to shingles formed of hydraulic cement and asbestos known as asbestos shingles, and is particularly designed to produce a shingle, or similar slab, which shall have a surface variegated in color, or of a dominant color different from that of the cement or other materials of which the body of the slab is formed, and which color shall be permanent and not removable by the action of Water.

In certain aspects my invention constitutes an improvement on the fibrous sheets set out in U. S. Letters Patent to Charles L. Norton, numbered 979,547 and 97 9,548, granted'December 27, 1910. The asbestos shingles or other articles made by the Norton process, or by any other process known to me, are extremely diflicult to color-permanently. Furthermore the color produced by known methods is usually a flat even shade,

devoid of relief or variegation. If architects or owners object to the natural light s gray color of such shingles it has been customary to treat them after manufacture with various coloring solutions, but when in use the rain gradually washes out the coloring matter entirely or so as to produce an unsightly streaked appearance. Many ex periments have been made in the attempt to produce a coloringmaterial which will per 40 manently resist the effects of weather and the action of sunlight when applied to or incorporatechin these asbestos shingles, but so far without-entirely satisfactory results as far as'I know. Ihave" discovered that any desired coloring can be given to the surface of such shingles by embodying in said surface during the process of manufactureof the shingle any suitable granulated weather resistant materials such as crushed brick or colored slate which are practically'insoluble in water andlin which the colors are permamm. This invention lends itself most'con veniently to the improvement of the product set out in the above mentioned Norton patents, as sald coloring material can be set of compacting pressure rolls. Said rolls sprinkled upon the initially formed sheet of cementitious materials at or about the time the water of hydration is sprinkled on said sheet and before it passes through the final will then, at the same operation, force the particles of granulated material into the V body of cementitious material so that they become embedded or inlaid in the general cementitious body at and adjacent to the surface thereof so that their color shows on said surface and dominates it.

The best form 'of my invention at present known to me is illustrated in the accompanying sheet of drawings in which Figure 1 is a plan view of a shingle and Fig. 2 is a cross section of the same on line 2-2 of Fig. 1, the sizes of the granular material being exaggerated for convenience of illustration in both figures of drawing.

Throughout the drawings like reference figures indicate like parts. 1,.represents the body of the slab or shingle which is preferably formed of hydraulic or Portland cement and short asbestos fiber,

the-hydraulic cement composing the major portion of the compound. When the cement has set after the wet sheet has been subject, ed to high compression the shingle is formed as a dense stone-like body which will not absorb and hold ordinary coloring matter.

2, 2, rep-resent granular particles of some mineral or other material having a distinctive color, and practically insoluble in Water. This material maybe prepared by crushing brick, or colored slate to granular form. It is then sprinkled onto the sheet 1, after the same has been formed but before the cement has set and before it has been subjected to its final pressing. The material 2, is then, by the final pressing of the sheet 1, embedded therein, each particle 2, being set in a matrix of the cement after the same has hardened. The cement'matrix, as shown in Fig. 2 nearly surrounds each particle, allowing only the upper surface thereof, or a portion of said upper surface, to show, the surface of the "cement body forming the matrix appearing around each particle, each particle of coloring matter being below the general plane of the upper surface of the shingle with a part of its upper surface tangent to said plane. Owingto the plastic condition ofthe cement when the shingle after deposition of the col,- oring particles. is subjected to pressure the 0 above result follows no matter how large a quantity of the coloring particles is used, as a part of the cement is always squeezed up around each particle, but preferably 1 do not 7 mean excess of the coloring particles.

This results in giving to the surface of the shingle treated a mottled appearance, on close inspection, in which the color of the granular material predominates, and at a distant view the color of the granular mate rial dominates completely and gives its color to the surface treated. The mottling of the surface gives the shingles, and the roof covered by. the shingles, a weathened 'efi'ect which is considered desirable by many persons. The particles offgranular coloring material cannot be washed out of their matrices and as they are insoluble in water the color its surface to give thereto the characteristic color of said material, the said particles betat-arts ing below the general plane of'the upper surface of the shingle but mostly tangent thereto.

2. An an article of manufacture, a slab for use as a roof shingle or similar purpose composed of hydraulic cement and asbestos and having a sufficient number of granular particles of a mineral of some pronounced color and practically insoluble in water embedded in its surface to give thereto the characteristic color of said mineral, the said particles being below the general plane of the upper surface of the shingle but mostly tangent thereto.

3. As an article of manufacture a slab for use as a roof shingle or similar purpose composed mainly of hydraulic cement and having a sufficient number of granular particles of a material of some pronounced color and practically insoluble in water embedded in its surface to give thereto the characteristic color of said material, the particles of coloring material being separate one from another at portions of the slab surface whereby a weathered efl'ect is produced on said surface. HENRY R. WARDELL.

Witnesses:

ARTHUR J. ARIEL,

A. G. How. 

